Tragedy Shifts Gun Debate

Some NRA-Backed Legislators Call for New Weapons Laws; 'Enough Is Enough'

The mass shooting in Connecticut appears to be reshaping the politics of gun control, with several ardent supporters of gun rights in Congress calling for steps to toughen the nation's weapons laws. WSJ's Neil King reports. Photo: Getty Images.

By

Neil King Jr. and

Gary Fields

Updated Dec. 19, 2012 4:03 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The mass shooting in Connecticut appears to be reshaping the politics of gun control, with several ardent supporters of gun rights in Congress calling for steps to toughen the nation's weapons laws.

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The lawmakers, Democrats who have received high marks from the National Rifle Association for their voting records, said Monday they were newly open to proposals for gun-law changes. It remained unclear how aggressively Democrats or Republicans would push for new firearms restrictions.

The Democrats pointed to restricting large-capacity magazines that allow rapid firing of bullets, limiting the availability of assault-type rifles and boosting the scrutiny of the mental health of those seeking to buy a firearm.

A number of prominent Republican lawmakers also said a national discussion was needed on the recent spate of mass shootings.

The pledges came as the first funerals were held for victims of the shooting in Sandy Hook, Conn., which left 27 people dead.

Police on Monday continued to investigate 20-year-old Adam Lanza, the alleged gunman who killed himself after the shootings. Mr. Lanza destroyed a computer in his home, which could thwart the investigation into his electronic activity leading up to the killings, an official with knowledge of the investigation said Monday. Investigators consider this action a clue into the killer's state of mind.

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa called for a commission to study the shootings, saying it should include mental-health issues and "certainly can't be a debate just about guns." Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, called for a "comprehensive study of our laws'' aimed at preventing more such shootings, potentially including measures to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

Three of the Democratic lawmakers calling for change—Sen. Joe Manchin and Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, along with Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia—have won support from the NRA, the powerful pro-gun lobby.

The AR-15, one of the most popular rifles in America, is under scrutiny after police say the weapon was used in the massacre in Newtown, Conn. WSJ's Jason Bellini reports. Image: Getty

ENLARGE

Assault-rifle magazines at a gun show in 2010. Several gun-rights supporters in Congress are calling for toughening the nation's weapons laws.
Associated Press

Mr. Manchin, who has an "A" rating from the NRA and aired a campaign ad in 2010 showing himself firing a rifle, said Monday on MSNBC that large magazines and assault rifles aren't needed for hunting. "It's time to move beyond rhetoric" on weapons restrictions, he said.

Mr. Rahall, one of the biggest career recipients of NRA funding, said the massacre "demands aggressive action.'' He pointed to "gaps in our mental health system'' and "violence in our culture'' rather than new gun restrictions.

Sen. Warner described how Friday's killing of 20 children at an elementary school had transformed his views on guns and gun violence. "Enough is enough," he told a Richmond, Va., TV station, noting how he also had received a perfect NRA grade of "A." "I'm the father of three daughters, and this weekend they all said, 'Dad, how can this go on?' "

Two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein of California and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, said they would introduce legislation early next year to effectively renew the federal assault-rifle ban, which expired in 2004, and restrict the sort of large-capacity ammunition clips that the Sandy Hook shooter used.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a Democrat, called for a "national discussion" and promised to hold hearings in January "to search for answers."

The lawmakers' comments followed suggestions from the White House that President Barack Obama may propose limits on high-capacity gun magazines.

As with most past mass shootings, the NRA has remained silent. The group hasn't responded to requests for comment and appeared to have suspended its FacebookFB-1.26% page since Friday's massacre. Before the shootings, the NRA had noted that its page had received 1.7 million "likes" from Facebook users. Now the page can't be foundThe NRA's Twitter account, which had more than 64,000 followers as of Monday, has been silent since Friday.

John Velleco, a spokesman for Gun Owners of America, a gun-rights group, said none of the proposals being floated would have stopped the shooter, who took the weapons he used from his mother.

Mr. Velleco also questioned the idea that Congress might target people with mental-health issues. He said there are millions of such people "but almost none of them are prone to violence…Do we put any person who's ever taken a psychoactive drug into the FBI database and disarm them forever?"

Mr. Rubio said he had long been open to measures that would keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, but he noted that "by definition, criminals do not follow the law.'' He said that Connecticut's strict gun laws didn't prevent Friday's killings.

It remains unclear how effective a ban on large-capacity ammunition clips would be. The 1994 assault-rifle ban limited the size of magazines to 10 shots, but the law lapsed a decade later, and it didn't apply to magazines made before the law went into effect. Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, who was involved in the battle over the 1994 bill while an assistant director at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, pointed out that so many large-capacity magazines already are in circulation.

One reason supporters give for limiting the size of ammunition clips is that several mass-shooting incidents ended when the shooters paused to reload and were overcome by bystanders.

In 2011, Jared Loughner's shooting spree in Tucson, Ariz., was disrupted when he stopped to reload the magazine in his handgun. He killed six and wounded 13 people, including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, a Democrat and self-described gun-rights supporter who hoped for an NRA endorsement during his 2010 election but didn't receive one, said in an emotional speech Monday on the Senate floor that the government had "to accept the reality that we are not doing enough to protect our citizens." He predicted the Senate would engage in a "thoughtful debate about how to change laws and culture that allow violence to grow."

In his own speech on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) made no mention of potential gun legislation but praised Mr. Obama's speech to the Sandy Hook community the night before.

"There's no escaping the fact that the massacre at Sandy Hook stands out for its awfulness," Mr. McConnell said.

In another sign of the changed environment, some lawmakers who support gun restrictions showed a new eagerness to take up the issue, which many in recent years had considered a no-win pursuit.

"I have been largely silent on the issue of gun violence over the past six years, and I am now as sorry for that as I am for what happened to the families who lost so much in this most recent—but sadly not isolated—tragedy," said Rep. John Yarmuth, a Republican-turned-Democrat from Kentucky, in a speech.

Corrections & Amplifications An earlier version of this article incorrectly implied that a 1994 ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004 prohibited the sale of all ammunition magazines that held more than 10 rounds. The law didn't apply to magazines made before the law went into effect.

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